“I think it was our beloved Mary Dunn’s idea,” Nair recalls, “that it would be a great opportunity to have all 3000 of us taught by Guruji, even for just the Om.” At her request, Guruji instructed the audience in sitting and chanting, and hundreds who would never have had the chance to study with B.K.S. Iyengar shared an unforgettable moment.
Hysterical Blindness, Monsoon Wedding, one of the top-grossing foreign films of all time, and The Namesake. Her latest film, Amelia, co-starring Richard Gere and Ewan McGregor, was released in October 2009. Although she describes her home practice as “a bit undisciplined”—“I’m spoiled by all you teachers! I only like to come to class,” she says—her yoga is not. When in New York, Nair attends class three times a week at the Iyengar Yoga Institute, “Monday, Thursday, and Saturday with James. And on the road, I have Iyengar Yoga teachers everywhere! In every major country I have identified and created friendships with Iyengar teachers. Never a week goes by without my practicing, but I am not good at doing it alone. I do it, but not deeply, not regularly enough.”
Recently, Nair had a reminder of just how remarkable the evening was, and how much it meant to Iyengar Yoga devotees.
Nair made a brief visit to RIMYI in Pune, taking a class with Prashant Iyengar and visiting with Guruji.
“It was the funniest thing,” she remembers. “I was in London last week, and some friend of mine walked me into a really fancy, overcrowded restaurant. They showed us to a terrible table and my friend took the maitre d’ aside. I could see them talking, my friend was trying to convince him. The maitre d’ turned around and asked, ‘Is that Mira Nair? I saw her interview B.K.S. Iyengar in New York!’
Earlier, in 2005, she interviewed Guruji during one of his triumphal Light on Life appearances. “That was one of greatest honors I have ever received, to be asked to converse with Guruji,” she says of the event at New York’s City Centre. “I remember feeling like I had to be deeply prepared. I read Light on Life, of course, very very carefully. I met with him the night before for dinner. I told him, ‘Guruji, one condition only, that you won’t make me demonstrate anything in front of 3000 people.’ Then he laughed his beautiful cascade of laughter.
“Forget my movies! It was because of that interview that he gave us the best table in the place. We had the best meal and he kept sending special dishes over to our table from the chef all night! “I was just telling James [Murphy], ‘You won’t believe where yoga gets us!’” Nair is the founder of the Salaam Baalak Trust (baalak means “child”), a foundation with 25 centers providing a safe and nurturing environment for street children all over India. Funded with profits from Salaam Bombay!, her first film, the organization (www.salaambaalaktrust. com) is led by chairperson Praveen Nair, a social worker and Nair’s mother. Nair also founded Maisha, an annual filmmakers’ laboratory based in Kampala, Uganda, which supports emerging filmmakers in East Africa. Richard Jonas, certified at the Introductory level, is a faculty member at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of Greater New York. He is also a writer and Vice President of the IYNAUS Board of Directors.
Pictures of Guruji and of the late Senior Teacher Mary Dunn flank the statue of Patanjali, decorated with flowers during the Puja ceremony at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York July 24. See story on page 23.
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Fall 2009 / Winter 2010
Yoga Samachar
